Reviewing Random Films For Fun

January 3, 2016

Things to Come #MovieReview

Film 279 in the ‘1001 Films to see before you’ challenge is 1936’s “Things to Come”. Based on H.G. Wells’ novel “The Shape of Things to Come”, this William Cameron Menzies sci-fi drama is about a decades-long War which leaves plague and anarchy in Everytown, then a rational state rebuilds civilisation and attempts space travel. Sci-fi? What’s sci-fi about this? All I saw was a lot of war and a lot of characters who are there for the sake of having characters in a film. I lasted 45 minutes before I gave in. Throughout those 45 minutes I was constantly asking questions. Most of those questions were about who people were. If they had names, I didn’t catch them or they said the names so quick the sound operators failed to capture it. All I got out of this film was that Everytown likes having wars for the smallest of reasons. I got to a point where I just stopped caring and had to end it before I turned this review into a Q+A. Overall, this is a film that has aged badly and doesn’t hold up today. Fun Fact of the Film – This was the most costly British production of its time as it flopped at the box office. If you have seen this film then let me know what you thought of it in the comments. Here is what I managed to say while watching 1936’s “Things to Come”